To Sleep at Night
by AudreyMetalMouth
Summary: Most people are plagued by guilt at night, just before they fall asleep, and it shows by the dark circles under their eyes. One person in particular, however, is plagued by her subconscious through dreaming... - Rated T for weirdness and implied violence.


_A/N: Because I have an obsession with the mind and all things related to it. I'm just that weird. Plus, I'm still on a wacky crazy kick from Decline (you'd think I'd have shut up about it by now, but nooo, Audrey needs to make sure everybody knows just how awesomely it turned out and that everyone has read at least part of it. Just kidding. You don't have to read it. But if you'd like...!) so this is the result of that. Thanks for reading!_**  
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Daphne snuggled down under the covers, closing her eyes. It had been a long day and she just wanted to sleep. She smiled as she drifted off. She really did have a good life, she reflected. A boyfriend who adored her, friends who looked up to her – yup, she had it pretty good.

Said her conscious mind…

oOo

Daphne opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that she was wearing a disgusting mustard-colored dress that completely clashed with her hair. "Gro-oss," she complained. "I'm never going to a thrift store with Velms again."

Around her a white swirling mist was dissipating. Slowly she recognized the aisle at Sally's where she had been the other day deliberating buying something – what was it again? Oh well, must not have been important – with Fred. Wait, was that her and Fred standing there?

"…so anyway, I was just thinking maybe I needed to try something different," the other her was saying. This was so weird. That was exactly what she'd said.

"Oh," Freddy said, looking at what she was holding. "Um, well, if you really think so. I kind of like your hair the way it is, Da –"

"Great! I'll have to try it out this weekend to see if I like me with blonde hair." The other Daphne dropped the box into the almost-filled cart and pushed it along, Fred trailing after her looking slightly disappointed.

Daphne watched herself and Fred turn a corner. "Thaaat was weird." She turned on her heel to go and froze. The white mist was coming back, erasing Sally's, and there was a figure sitting in a chair ahead. "Hello?"

The man in the black and white striped pajama-type clothes slowly looked up, blue eyes not quite focused. His blond hair fell a little in front of his face. "Hi, Daph."

"Oh, Freddy!" She smiled and started forward.

He met her eyes with his own suddenly hardened gaze. She suddenly realized he was holding a scarf in his hands that he kept compulsively tying knots in. "Why would you want to dye your hair? I like it red. It's pretty. You're pretty just like you are. Don't you know that? Maybe you don't listen to me. I tell you you're beautiful every day. I thought you said."

"What?" Daphne stopped, confused. "What did I say?"

"There can only be one blond in a relationship. I thought you said. There can only be one blond in a relationship." A contented smile settled on his face as he stood and started towards her. "I thought you said."

"When did I say that? Freddy? Freddy, answer me!" A memory presented itself. Stephanie, a bleached blonde cheerleader, flirting with Fred before they had started dating. Her own response to justify why she had gotten so protective. _There can only be one blond in a relationship,_ she'd said defensively. "Freddy, I didn't mean – !"

The mist swung around him and he was gone, scarf, chair and all. Then she was standing in her own house, watching another scene, this time Shaggy and Scooby in her kitchen.

Shaggy shifted, uncomfortable in his tie, glancing back at the cupboards every so often. "Like, Scoob, you don't think the Blakes'd mind if we just tested the food before their big party, do you?"

"Robably," Scooby sighed dejectedly. "Ri'm ro rungry, Raggy."

"Me too, buddy." Silence took over again. A few moments later, "Scooby, do you think they'd notice even a little bit gone?"

"Rell…res."

Then a little later it came again. "I don't think I can wait until seven! I've gotta like eat something fast."

"Re roo," Scooby gave in, clambering on top of the kitchen counter with Shaggy close behind.

Daphne remembered this. She hadn't been there, but she remembered. They'd eaten everything, _everything_, that her parents had bought and had specifically made for this dinner. Everything. There were no crumbs.

Then she came in. The second Daphne stopped and gaped, her face going almost as red as her hair.

Oh, right. She had been there.

"_Norville Rogers and Scoobert Doo!_" she shrieked. "What have you done? My parents had to pay for all of that and there are guests out there waiting on their food and…" She ranted on for a good ten minutes. The devouring duo slumped lower and lower, looking so ashamed it was pitiful. "Why did you do that?"

"We, like, were just hungry," Shaggy tried to explain.

"Reah, rust rungry…"

She was shaking. Daphne watched herself squeeze her eyes shut and take a deep breath before turning and stalking out. "Never mind," she said through gritted teeth.

"Jeepers," Daphne whispered to herself, "I didn't notice that before. My hair stayed perfect!" Amazing. She smiled, a little bit proud of her perfect hair.

The smile faded when the mist swept across the scene, changing it again. This time there was no chair. In fact, there wasn't really anything. Daphne shrugged and turned around. Then she saw what she had missed.

In front of her now were Shaggy and Scooby, dressed in bright orange jumpsuits with CHC in bold black letters emblazoned on the back above a short string of numbers. They were laughing merrily and sword-fighting like they sometimes did on top of a table.

Only this time they held knives instead of sticks.

Scooby spotted her and stopped. Shaggy looked over his shoulder, seeing her too. They both lowered their knives. "Like, Daphne?"

"You guys are normal, right?" she asked warily, remembering Fred.

"Re're ralrays rormal," Scooby responded.

She relaxed. "Oh, good, I thought you guys had gone crazy like Fredd–"

"Rou're rhe rone rhat's rean."

Mean? What had she done that was mean?

"Why'd you get all angry at us? We didn't, like, mean to ruin your parents' dinner. We were just hungry," Shaggy said in a lilting sing-song, jumping smoothly down from the table. "Just a little bit hungry…"

"Reah, rust rungry!" Scooby's tail wagged as he gave her a lopsided smile and leaped down as well. "Rust rungry, rhat ras all."

"Just hungry and that was all," Shaggy repeated with him.

She was backing up to get away from their steady advance. Suddenly those knives had a new meaning. "You guys?" she squeaked in fear.

"Rust rungry, rhat ras all!"

"We were just a little bit hungry, just hungry and that was all." The chant was somehow becoming more menacing even though the sing-song voices never changed.

Daphne shut her eyes and dropped to a crouch, throwing her hands over her head. The voices gradually got softer until they were gone. When she finally had the courage to open her eyes again, the white mist had done its job. Now she was in the empty hallway at school.

She looked around. "Nobody's here," she said out loud. "Nothing here." That was reassuring.

The bell's shrill ringing startled her into jumping. A moment later the classroom doors opened and waves of students poured out, chattering amongst themselves. She spotted herself quickly. "Hey! Hey! Velms, wait up!" she yelled. Daphne followed her own line of vision to the brunette, who turned at her name and stepped out of the way to avoid being run over. "Okay, Velma, I've got this huge dinner my parents are planning tonight that I have to get to so can you help me with my math?" She waited, expectantly bouncing on her toes.

Velma shifted her own thick books to the other arm to adjust her glasses. "Well…I've got my own to do and then Mom said she'd take me to the bookstore –"

"Great! Thanks so much, Vel, you're a total life-saver." She shoved her math book into the other girl's arms and disappeared on her way to the next class. Velma stared helplessly after her. Then she sighed and dropped her eyes to the ground, turning and trudging on.

Daphne watched the scene – from yesterday, she remembered – do the whole mist thing. Good, she thought to herself, I didn't do anything wrong there. Maybe this time it's the whole 'you can save yourself if you act more like this' thing. What dinner was that again, she tried to remember. She came up blank. "Oh!" she cried aloud. "That date with Freddy." Her parents had technically planned it since they gave her the address of the restaurant. That's what it was.

This time she knew to turn around before deciding there was nothing there. Sure enough, Velma was curled up in a hammock strung up between stacks of books. She looked asleep.

"Velma?"

Her eyes snapped open. Daphne watched her sit up, swinging her legs back and forth and reaching up to tug on the collar of her grey dress. "Yes, Your Majesty." She smiled.

Relief. "Oh, golly jeepers, this has been such a weird…time…" She trailed off when she saw the same oddness in Velma's smile that had been in first Freddy's, then Shaggy's and Scooby's. "What?" she said defensively. "Come on, you're my best friend, I wouldn't do anything to get you mad enough to –" Daphne bit her lip, eyes widening, as she realized. All of them were dressed in convicts' clothes. From different eras, but…!

They'd killed her?

"Don't you think I have my own life to live besides making sure you perform at least at a B level? That's all I ever do on yours anyway. Your handwriting is so girly. It's hard to use such loopy numbers for math. I do yours every night."

Daphne raised her shoulders. "I thought – but don't you – Velma, we're friends!"

She crossed her ankles and cocked her head. "Friends use each other?" She seemed to be contemplating this. Then she broke into that same eerie smile. "Does not compute." Velma reached for the book on top of the stack, then stood and began moving forward. "Does not compute," she repeated, "does not compute."

She'd never been scared of her friends before, but this certainly changed that. "Velma!" she screamed, "what are you doing?" That hardcover book was going to hurt if it met her skull. "Velma, listen to me!"

"Does not compute." Velma held the book ready to strike.

Someone tapped her right shoulder. "We were just hungry –"

" – rust a rittle bit rungry, rand rhat ras rall."

A tap on her left shoulder and hot breath on her ear. "There can only be one blond in a relationship."

The chanting marched in her head, blending together until all she could see was four duplicate smiles swimming in front of her eyes.

oOo

Daphne woke up with a headache. Quickly she glanced down. No ugly yellow mustard dress. She was in her own clothes, in her own bed, in her own house. She exhaled in relief. It was just a dream. "Of course it was," she chided herself, "my friends don't hate me and they certainly wouldn't ever kill me." You hope, a little voice whispered. She brushed it away and hurried to get ready.

At ten her phone beeped with a text. _Daph, we're going to headquarters because the guys are bored and there's really not much else to do. You can meet us there if you don't have anything going on – hopefully your parents aren't planning a brunch_, it said. Typical Vel. Daphne didn't remember a single text from her that had abbreviations in it. Not even 'HQ' for headquarters like the rest of them used.

Around ten-thirty she was parking in front of HQ. The Mystery Machine was already there, along with Scooby's mandatory leash and Shaggy's Starfire 3000. A miracle that thing still worked and fit him, she thought as she walked up to the door.

Inside the others were already situated. Fred was sprawled out on the couch, Shaggy and Scooby were raiding the refrigerator, and Velma was tapping away on the computer. Fred was talking on the phone. "No, really, I do not like you. No I'm not! No guy really does the whole 'hard to get' thing! That's girls!"

"What's _he_ doing?" Daphne asked suspiciously.

Velma looked up. "Oh, Stephanie called. He's having a hard time convincing her that he really is dating you." She went back to work.

Shaggy and Scooby popped out of the kitchen area, mouths full. "Yeah, an', like, thee's goh a biiih prohleh," Shaggy agreed. He swallowed. "She's totally sure he asked her out on Facebook but she doesn't get it that the little dude that really did is, like, some kind of Arabic guy with the same name as Freddy."

Daphne snickered. "Stupid Stephie." She dropped her purse and started to go sit down when something a string of events made her freeze.

"Shaggy, Scooby, you guys didn't eat the yogurt for my bacteria study in there, did you?" Velma called without turning around. They looked at each other guiltily.

"No," Fred explained into the phone in a frustrated voice. "Why? …There can only be one blond in a relationship."

"We were just hungry," Shaggy tried to defend themselves.

"Reah, rust rungry," Scooby chimed in.

Velma seemed distracted by a malfunction of the computer. She banged the keyboard and cried in frustration, "Does not compute!"

The four of them stared after Daphne. Later she refused to explain why she ran out of headquarters screaming bloody murder that morning, but they had to admit it was nice that she took special pains to be extremely considerate afterwards.


End file.
